I finished watching this episode of The King 2 Hearts holding my breath. Nothing comes easy for Jae Ha and Hang Ah when their opponent doesn’t play fair and has the means to pull off stunning feats of sabotage. Our darling OTP has tied their personal fates together with the outcome of the WOC, and can I say how fantabulous that is from a viewer standpoint. Suddenly all the stakes are raised and we’re back in the game of showing the world what a joint North-South Korean team can do. Succeeding at the WOC encompasses Jae Kang’s dream, Hang Ah and Jae Ha’s marriage, the pride and unity of the two Koreas, and sticking it to Bong Goo where the sun don’t shine. The writers have deftly weaved all this in with pushing Jae Shin to step up and stopped being a victim and start taking control of her life again. I can’t say enough accolades about TK2H, but its enough to let this drama speak for itself. Episode 13 sets up what looks like a epic final arc of this drama.
Episode 13 recap:
Bong Goo opens the box from Jae Ha using the password “people”. Inside he finds a royal encrusted USB drive. He’s a bit impressed that Jae Ha is returning a video message with another video message. When Bong Goo plays the video inside, out pops Jae Ha sitting down and addressing Bong Goo casually like they are friends. Jae Ha gives Bong Goo another chance to heed his warning and turn off this video on the count of ten, otherwise it’ll be too late.
Jae Ha snaps his finger and Bong Goo’s eyes widen when he sees Jae Ha and Bong Goo’s girlfriend Tara having drinks. Jae Ha secretly recorded his flirtation with Tara to piss off Bong Goo. More importantly, when Jae Ha asks Tara about her boyfriend, he gets Tara to laughingly proclaim that her boyfriend is this childish insecure guy who loves showing her magic tricks. Frankly, all he has is lots of money but nothing else, no charm or humor. She laughs that money can’t buy intelligence and integrity. She’s only with Bong Goo because he has money. Tara makes fun of the fact that Bong Goo refers to himself as the King, and Jae Ha laughs along with that.
Tara walks out to the living room at that moment and asks why Bong Goo isn’t coming to sleep. Bong Goo pulls out a gun and shoots her point blank. He turns and watches the video for a few more minutes, seeing Tara puts the moves on Jae Ha. He walks over and shoots Tara a few more times as she’s laying on the ground.
Jae Ha calmly asks if Bong Goo just shot Tara? Jae Ha tells Bong Goo about the time when he was pushed into a corner and shot Hang Ah. But because he had his older brother and the people of his country, he was able to learn how to trust and believe. It is for his people that he will fight Bong Goo to the end. These people who believe in him and love him. Bong Goo can try to destroy Jae Ha as much as he wants, but it will only make Jae Ha stronger as he fights to protect those people.
Bong Goo fires a shot into the television and ends the video. His right hand man comes out to remove Tara’s body, and tells Bong Goo that Lee Jae Ha is about to make an announcement.
Jae Ha stands before a packed audience at Jae Kang’s memorial concert. Jae Ha discusses Jae Kang’s two dreams when he was live – participating in the WOC as a unified team and Jae Ha’s marriage to Kim Hang Ah. He announces that the joint North-South Korea WOC team will proceed, and he will be participating along with Kim Hang Ah.
He announces that he loves Kim Hang Ah, but as the King of South Korea, being engaged to a North Korean military officer is truly a difficult thing for the people to accept. Jae Ha introduces Kim Hang Ah, the leader of the North Korean side of the WOC team, and also his fiancée and the woman he loves. He will use the WOC to show the people the level of trust between Jae Ha and Hang Ah, and show that North-South Korean cooperation can have positive results. If the joint Korean team doesn’t advance past the first round of the WOC, then he and Hang Ah will not be getting engaged.
Hang Ah changes into her North Korean military uniform and walks out on stage. Jae Ha walks up to her and extends his hand. Bong Goo watches this announcement on TV since the memorial is being broadcast live. The people clap as Hang Ah and Jae Ha stand on the stage side by side.
She expertly shifts her military hat to her right side and reaches out her left hand to clasp Jae Ha’s hand. They turn and face the audience together. I swear I could just squish them they are so perfectly awesome together.
The Prime Minister is voicing his displeasure and worry about Jae Ha leaving the nation to participate in the WOC in Japan for a month. Jae Ha points out that other Kings in history have been involved in military activities, and this time he’s going because there are greater political implications involving many powerful countries. Secretary Eun actually doesn’t side with the Prime Minister this time. Jae Ha finally gets the guy to shut up when he points out that the Prime Minister didn’t do his mandatory army duty. When asked what will happen if the Korean team is eliminated in the first round? It’ll be a huge embarrassment! Jae Ha promises they will advance past the first round. Jae Ha asks the Prime Minister to assist Jae Shin as Queen while he is gone.
It’s up to Jae Ha and Hang Ah to convince the other family members to go along with this plan. We see Jae Shin zipping around the Palace on her motorized wheelchair like it’s a race car, with her little parakeet perched on her handle bar. She’s very self-sufficient, that is until she comes to a staircase. She stops and looks upset to acknowledge that there are still limits to her immobility.
The Queen Mother and Jae Shin are not happy with the WOC plans. Hang Ah asks to spend the day with Jae Shin instead of the Queen Mother. Jae Shin is against it, claiming that Hang Ah will just hit her again. Haha, true dat. The next day, Hang Ah tags along with Jae Shin to the hospital, promising to take Shi Kyung’s place and protect Jae Shin since she’s so strong. Instead of taking her to the hospital, Hang Ah instead takes a sleeping Jae Shin back to the vacation home where Jae Kang died. What’s so sweet is how Hang Ah props a sleeping Jae Shin on her shoulder during the car ride.
Jae Ha is trying to convince his mom to support his plan. He tells his mom that Kim Bong Goo killed Jae Kang and confessed it to Jae Ha’s face. The Queen Mother is understandably overcome with worry when she finds out how Jae Kang really died and now her only remaining son is trying to battle the same man responsible. While Jae Ha is away, he’s going to subject Jae Shin to even more pressure while she is in her current state by asking her to be Queen. Mom knows that Jae Shin often hits her head against the wall at night since she’s so scared she can’t sleep. How can Jae Ha force his sister to run when she can’t even walk right now?
The Queen Mother asks Jae Ha to just avoid this, to figuratively run away. Before her sons were Kings, they are first her sons. She doesn’t want any more of her children to be sacrificed, she doesn’t want them to be placed in danger anymore. Jae Ha says they need to catch the person who did this to Jae Shin, who killed Jae Kang, how they can just forgive that person?
Bong Goo shows a gathering of Club M people the box Jae Ha sent him, trying to prove that Bong Goo is useless and has no one around him he can trust. Bong Goo decides to attend a gathering peace summit to be held in Jeju. Hahaha, that’s like a sex addict attending a celibacy retreat. He decides to stop being the shadowy power of Club M behind the scenes. He’s going to be there as King Jae Ha leads the Korean peninsula, his homeland, towards peace.
Hang Ah plays the same song Bong Goo likes to play for Jae Shin while they are at the vacation home, hoping this will trigger a memory. Sadly Jae Shin still cannot remember other than some snippets of fragmented memories. Hang Ah tells Jae Shin the truth about her Jae Kang oppa’s death. Hang Ah tells Jae Shin that Kim Bong Goo doesn’t want to see a join Korean WOC team, which is why they have to do it to oppose him. But their biggest weapon will be Jae Shin’s memory of what happened, so they need Jae Shin to remember.
Jae Ha continues to try to convince his mother to let him do this. As he recounts how Bong Goo told him about killing Jae Kang, both Jae Ha and the Queen Mother starts to cry. He needs to do this to keep his family safe and to seek justice for Jae Kang. Bong Goo is very powerful, that is why he could do this to Jae Shin and Jae Kang. His mother wants to forgive this and keep it in her heart and let it go. She begs Jae Ha to please save her, she cannot lose him as well. Jae Ha hugs his mother as they cry and cry. Oh, just cut my heart out, won’t you?
Jae Ha is talking with Hang Ah later in the evening in her room. LOL, its like these two have dates that double as debriefing sessions. Hang Ah explains that it’s very hard to get Jae Shin to regain her memory, especially since Jae Shin has lost all confidence in herself.
Conversation turns towards the death of Jae Kang and how Bong Goo could have found out the location of his vacation destination in order to send assassins. Jae Ha says that only the family, Secretary Eun, and a few royal guards knew where Jae Kang was headed. Hang Ah points out that Secretary Eun ought to be considered a suspect in the information leak, especially considering that he’s lied to them before. Hang Ah reveals that Secretary Eun once lied to her that Jae Ha wanted her to attend the public investigation, though afterwards he did tell Hang Ah that he lied about it.
Jae Ha backs Secretary Eun, saying that even if no one else is trustworthy, he’ll never betray them. He’s been serving the royal family for 30 years and is just like a family member. Despite what he just said, Jae Ha continues to think about what Hang Ah said. The next day when he is meeting with Secretary Eun, Jae Ha wants reassurance that he’ll never lie to Jae Ha. Fat chance of that happening. Jae Ha asks again if Secretary Eun made a mistake because of his old age when it came to checking the vacation home to make sure it was safe. Secretary Eun sticks with his story that he made a mistake.
The royal guards are in their break room laughing and chatting as Dong Ha tells everyone about Kang Seok’s love for SNSD. Dong Ha jokes that Kang Seok is old and a softie, but Shi Kyung points out that Dong Ha took off when Kang Seok showed up during the snowball fight. Jae Shin comes in and asks to speak to Shi Kyung alone. After everyone else leaves, Jae Shin asks Shi Kyung to stay beside her and not attend the WOC.
She’ll agree to govern as Queen for the month if Shi Kyung helps her. Her brother and Hang Ah will be away at the WOC, leaving her all alone. Shi Kyung at first insists that he needs to participate in the WOC since he’s a member. Jae Shin asks if she needs to get down on her knees to beg him. Despite her disability, she’s still a Princess, why does she need to beg him. He finally relents when Jae Shin reveals that she needs him. Despite resenting him for pushing her to be braver in facing her condition, she nevertheless wants him to help her. Jae Shin says she really can’t remember, she’s not avoiding it or not trying hard enough.
Shi Kyung tells Jae Ha that Jae Shin has asked him to stay before she’ll agree to be Queen, so he likely has to withdraw from the WOC. Jae Ha knows that this means Jae Shin likes Shi Kyung, and teases Shi Kyung about always getting the ladies to fall for him. from enticing Hang Ah to Jae Shin. Jae Ha asks if Shi Kyung is angling to become the Prince Consort?
Jae Ha laments his dream brother-in-law as a guy with a fun personality he can hang out with, too bad it’s going to be someone as boring as Shi Kyung. Shi Kyung adorably insists that he has no untoward intentions for Jae Shin, she’s not his type. Jae Ha stops teasing Shi Kyung and tells him to stay behind, not just to protect Jae Shin, but to help investigate the possibility of a traitor in the Palace.
Secretary Eun tries to persuade Jae Shin to attend a public event but she still refuses, telling him to get her mother to go. Afterwards he sits in his office and sees a list of people attending the peace summit in Jeju. He sees Bong Goo’s attending and picks up a phone potentially to call him, but is interrupted by Shi Kyung. Shi Kyung tells his dad that he’s staying behind under Jae Ha’s orders to investigate a potential leak in the Palace. Secretary Eun tells Jae Ha that Kim Bong Goo will be coming to the Palace for Jae Shin’s inaugural party as part of the guests invited from the Jeju Peace Summit. Jae Ha asks Secretary Eun to help Jae Shin while he is away.
Jae Ha has prepared an outdoor camping trip experience in the backyard of the Palace for a date night with Hang Ah. Nice to see Jae Ha using his smooth moves on his own fiancée rather than hoochie Tara.
They sit down and toast to tomorrow’s start of the WOC, with Hang Ah downing her wine in one gulp. Jae Ha brings up the topic of first loves, which annoys Hang Ah and she stands up acting all upset and says he needs a beating before tomorrow’s group activity. Jae Ha pulls his chair over to Hang Ah and sits down next to her, telling her that’s not what he’s talking about.
Turns out Jae Ha’s first love was an experience he wanted to forget. He tells Hang Ah that his first love was this pretty girl in elementary school, who ignored him until she learned that that he was a Prince. He went to a normal elementary school where he’s identity was kept a secret initially. At which point she started fawning over him and dragged all her girlfriends over so she could take a selca with Jae Ha and act like he was her boyfriend. To little Jae Ha, her attitude change was very disgusting to him.
Jae Ha became disillusioned by this and grew to not trust anyone. Since that time, he wanted to just not try hard at life, enjoy what he had and just go with it. It’s been very lonely for him to live in distrust of people for so long. Hang Ah listens to him quietly and puts her hand on his hand reassuringly. Jae Ha pulls Hang Ah’s hand over and places it on his cheek, nestling into it.
He thanks her for being with him, and he promises that they will win until the very end. Hang Ah nods. Jae Ha leans in to tenderly kiss Hang Ah and then they pull back and smile at each other.
The South Korean portion of the WOC team, along with Hang Ah, arrive in Japan for the start of the WOC. The media is waiting for them and they file into the room to be introduced to the host nation and the organizers. Jae Ha tells the head of the WOC that he is here not as the King of South Korea but as a member of the joint Korean team, so he doesn’t want any special treatment.
As the team is being driven to their dorms, Jae Ha and Hang Ah look around and see a lot of other teams have already arrived and some have even started training.
When they walk into their dorm room, Kang Seok and Young Bae are standing at attention waiting for them. Jae Ha casually extends his hand to for a reunion handshake but Kang Seok and Young Bae are formal and stiff with him.
Turns out they were just playing with Jae Ha and relax for a long overdue greeting. The guys pull Jae Ha down and tickle him, with Hang Ah standing by and watching her guy get ambushed. They tease him for having a soft belly and try to tickle the excess fat off him. So cute.
Princess Jae Shin, dressed in a formal Queenly gown and crown, is sworn in as Queen for the duration that Jae Ha is away at the WOC. She looks nervous but goes through with it.
Secretary Eun finally succeeds in reaching Bong Goo at the peace summit and he warns the crazy freak not to dare do anything else to the royal family. Bong Goo shoots back that instead of being worried about the Princess, Secretary Eun ought to be worried about himself. Doesn’t Secretary Eun have a son working as a royal guard, who respects his father very much. What would happen if his son learned that Secretary Eun was very close to Bong Goo?
Bong Goo is headed to the Jeju Peace Summit. He’s in his car with his right hand man and is upset that his picture in a NY Times article about attendees to the Jeju peace summit is smaller than everyone else’s. I seriously love all these jabs at Bong Goo’s raging inferiority complex. His subordinate asks if Bong Goo plans to let the Korean team win the WOC, since if they win the first round, Jae Ha and Hang Ah are planning to get married. Bong Goo laughs, clearly not putting any faith in the Korean team’s ability to advance far in the WOC. Bong Goo shows off a magic trick where he produces a ball from inside his mouth which says WOC on it.
Shi Kyung is next to Jae Shin as she nervously prepared for her first public appearance to speak at the Peace Summit. She wonders if there are a lot of people out there, and if they will all be looking at her? She pulls his sleeve and he kneels down to talk to her at the same level. Shi Kyung tells Jae Shin that the night they went to look at the stars, he didn’t look at the stars but was instead captivated by her, because she was shining brighter than any star.
The joint Korean WOC team is gathered with the WOC teams of all the participating countries in a ballroom as the WOC draw selection goes underway to determine the match ups. Jae Ha and Hang Ah discuss who their best opponents (re: the weakest) would be and confirm that their best bet is to pick Italy, Iran, or The Netherlands. Hang Ah calls her dad and confirms those three countries are indeed the Korean team’s best bet to advance against.
Each team sends their captain up to pick a ball from a bowl, then peeling off the sticker to reveal who their opponent would be. When it’s time for Team Korea, Hang Ah and Jae Ha go up together holding hands. I don’t know why, but seeing them side-by-side competing makes me so happy I can cry.
Jae Ha is nervous so Hang Ah has to whisper for him to calm down and pick a ball. She tells him that if he keeps picking around, he’ll decrease his luck. As Jae Ha is reaching around, it appears that a ball keeps being attracted to his hand. We see that Jae Ha is wearing a ring around his index finger of the hand that is reaching in for selection.
Jae Ha stops and everyone stares, waiting for him to reveal who their opponent will be. Jae Ha picks up a ball and peels off the sticker. But instead of reading the name himself, he holds the ball up towards the ballroom audience and waits for the name to be read.
Team Korea sucks in their breaths as the name is read by the announcer: The United States. What’s awesomely done is that we don’t see the name on the ball right away, but instead we see the United States flag being projected on the screen next to the Korean flag, and juxtaposed over Hang Ah and Jae Ha as they are standing on the stage.
Team Korean’s first round opponent will be the previous WOC champion (and the winningest country at the WOC since its inception). Good one, Bong Goo. As far as sabotages go, that was excellently done. Jae Ha and Hang Ah stare at each other in shock, and then turn to look out at their teammates.
Thoughts of Mine:
It’s been so long since I’ve watched a K-drama with genuine stakes. Not just the OTP getting past whatever obstacles and getting together, or the leads conquering whatever their hang ups and bottle necks are in life, but real stakes where a solution isn’t just a matter of when. I have no clue how Jae Ha and Hang Ah are going to finally vanquish Bong Goo. Will he end up dead or in some maximum security prison? Who will be collateral damage in this fight to the end? If it was only as easy as sacrificing an annoying twat like Secretary Eun to appease Bong Goo’s vanity and call it a day.
I have to say it was a tad disappointing to know that Jae Ha pretty much sacrificed Tara to achieve his end result, which was to cut Bong Goo down a notch and deliver a genuine warning to him. But all’s fair when its war, and Jae Ha is fighting a stealthy terrorist who has no empathy or conscience. Plus it was up to Bong Goo to pull the trigger and not Jae Ha, so let’s say a RIP for Tara and move on. I enjoyed watching Jae Ha find just the right weaknesses to exploit in Bong Goo. It was satisfying to see Jae Ha get the upper hand for once, even if we know Bong Goo will quickly retaliate back.
I find the WOC storyline one of the best developed threads in the entire drama. It opens the drama, weaves throughout the middle portions with Jae Kang’s death and Hang Ah’s stay in South Korea, and through it all brings importance to keeping the North and South continuing to cooperate. I feel like the joint WOC is a greater family outside of Jae Ha’s immediate family, providing an added source of support and strength to his fight with Bong Goo. While Jae Kang’s death left this void in Jae Ha’s life, it’s only fitting that some of the main sources of support Jae Ha has around him come from Jae Kang. It was Jae Kang who created the joint WOC team, it was Jae Kang who made it so Jae Ha and Hang Ah met, and it was joining the WOC that brought Shi Kyung into the fold.
When I saw the draw rigging, I was totally laughing at the flashback to the David Stern-NY Knicks-Patrick Ewing conspiracy. A cold envelope versus a magnetized ball, but either way, Bong Goo made sure the Korean team was doomed to fail in round one. But since tons of spoilers are out there on the impending royal engagement, that does take a bit of air out of the worry that the Korean team will get knocked out by the defending champions. I can’t wait to watch Hang Ah take charge and the team working together to pull off a super underdog victory. At the same time, I’m glad Shi Kyung and Jae Shin are getting more time together and doing the other end of the dirty investigative work back home. It takes an entire TWO countries to band together and vanquish one Kim Bong Goo? If that man realizes it, it might actually give him the peace of mind that he actually amounted to something, hopefully right at the moment before someone pumps fifty bullets into him.
Wow.. You are so fast!! I think this was the fastest recap of a drama…
O happy time…Thank you
Thank you so much Koala-unni! ♥
Ive been waiting for this—
Thank you for the recap 🙂
This is such a nice thing to read before I have to go mow in the atrocious heat, although maybe I should have mowed and then rewarded myself with this; seriously grass should just die after it hits 90 degress.
ooh, this was indeed quick! i didnt even have to abuse my refresh button as much O.o I liked this episode and the way that the stakes are being raised gradually but believably and the fact the the OTP are together…i actually dont mind that jae ha used tara collateral damage, it makes sense that he is fighting dirty like bong goo, something that jae kang couldnt do and i think that is what sets both brothers apart and that may be the reason why ones alive and the other is dead. ;( I’m looking forward to how things will progress from now as i think we are finally getting into the more exciting part of the drama.
Thanks for the quick recap, Ms Koala!
O Koala, I literally cried and laughed during episode…I watched it raw but it looked so wonderful.
Why JH and HA making things hard for him self…, don’t promise anything..keep your mouth shut and merry.
Why JH mother didn’t take her queen roll…she’s not pure blooded or something?
p.s. I predicted what was on USB…
×themself…
i know!! Didn’t even realize that JH had raised the stakes higher by promising that our OTP wouldn’t get married if they didn’t advance further until I read this recap!! aishhhhhhh….but obviously we KNOW the end-result so it’s all good, ne?!! 😀
Thanks God for that…long live spoilers 😉
To be truth, ‘the spoiler’ just makes me wondering, HOW??
I’m pretty sure that Jae Ha will pull some trick/strategy with his brain, but how then???
Argghhh…stress…..episode 14, counting 17 hours more (if counting Ms. Koala recaps, then it’s 24 hours more)
@Reglest: Thanks to spoiler I’m not pis×ed right now…
Who made that kind of promises…maybe JH is looking the way out…he,he…
Because she was the Queen Consort not a blood Royal. I actually felt kind of bad for the Tara character. It was rather cold to send her off to be killed like that. Oy! But I guess it shows that maybe being the mistress of a maniac isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Who could have predicted? 🙂
That’s because she insulted his magic powers..the man have tricks.
This was a good episode wherein they laid the foundation!! It was very engaging and more rel’ps were developed!! Like you I kinda felt bad that T-ara was collateral damage b/w the two adversaries….in hindsight it led me to think that Jae-ha has totally figured out BG wherein he knew that if anybody even talks smack behind his back he’ll kill them. It was one of those testing if JH’s theory worked and it did which must’ve irked BG even more.
I like that we get more insight into the reason why JH became soo cynical of his title. That kiss was soo sweet & totally captured the essence of the moment b/w our OTP!! Since I watched it raw I didn’t realize that the draw was sabotaged as well….hmm, is that the reason why they had him wear that ring to clue us viewers in?! Also, I’ll raise my hand…whenever the Queen Mother and our OTP cry….I automatically start crying!! When he hugged his mum….ooof, he looked like a little lost boy!!
ickkk, and tommorrow’s preview has me a little uncomfortable….SK it seems will come face-to-face with crazy assassin lady…excited!!
ps: As of a couple of days ago an insider reported that the script for Ep 19’s done so I’m kinda self-assured as to where this drama is headed.
@Saima: I love reading your posts…
I love Mayer/JH war thru technology…look classy. Mayer is now gonna act with all he have, this will lead him loosing followers, assistant.
But this with USA is to heavy and dummy…so they will defeat the best in 1st round…remind me on Karate kid and stuff like that.
O I love every time they are together…made me cry today.
As we further go, I see Hang Ah is the one who set her mind in the right way…
that’s way Mayer gonna be obsess with her…
aww, thank you!! <3
I'll be the first one to admit I used to comment occasionally and then I fell in love….with TK2H & Lee Seung-gi!! Just yday I had an 'incident' at work: which embarrassed & mortified me! This love is the worst and it is the best!! I've heard from others their love for certain dramas and in my almost 2-year K-drama watching this has been the first time where it is all-encompassing!!
Re the 1st round game with the US, I have a feeling that it won’t be a straight win or loss situation. Just my hunch and my faith in the writers, as I don’t think they are that blindly patriotic – look at the ways they treat politicians and military bigwigs of both sides, very cynical and cold-eyed.
Thank you so much for the recap Koala. As usual they are a pleasure to read^^ I am so looking forward to watching this series once my exams are over! Until then I pretty much stalk your blog and dramabeans ;D
THANK YOU for the recap!!
i want that royal flash drive and once again *you smile i smile* whenever the bot or the king smiles my mouth just goes with them. i am also worry about the preview, i always wince when hang ah moves her hand away from jae ha’s loving grasp( badd omenn)
Aaahhh I think that was more; pull your self together or engagement is off 8)
I enjoyed this episode very much.The king and the queen’s mother scene is very emotional . Why does the king always get the raw deal? Well, it makes the next episode more exciting.
Me too. I was feeling uncomfortable to know that Jae Ha sacrificed Tara but I agree with what all of you have said about him being different from his brother and having to play dirty along with the psychotic villain. Guess that’s why this show is more special – it doesn’t have a typical all-good one-sided hero and this is no typical romantic tale. He’s just doing what he can to protect his loved ones. Ha, I suddenly recall that my history teacher once said that no great leader can be a saint. In fact till now I think that Jae Ha is the most well-developed character in the show. Just my two cents.
Yeah, it’s a tad hard to watch Tara die like that. And I was trying to think of an alternative way out for her. What if Jae Ha told her about what he’s going to do and stash her somewhere, like a witness protection program? But then as long as BG sees the video, her fate is sealed. I mean if BG cannot find Tara and take his revenge, he is no longer BG. So, poor girl, you really should have known better to mess with someone like BG. RIP.
Ms. Koala, thank you for a REAL, FAST RECAPS (today seem faster than usual, isn’t it?)
Reading your reaps, I found some flaw, like how Hang Ah know the song played to initiate her memory? But that’s ok, maybe I’ll found the answer…later?
As you do, I’m also breath a sigh of releve when I know that WOC team will be back, but never thought to be this fast!! o.O, this show playing the pace really good! Next time we know, there will be that ‘mayor-spoiler-event…and it just next week? ottoke??
All I can hope now…please…please god..give your continuing inspiration towards the writers, never let them fall because of writer’s writers block. Raising hope is easy, but fulfilling is not. I’m enjoying this drama so far, and I don’t wanna let it down. So please, writers…get your hold!
I’m guessing because it’s been known to her that she had reacted to the piece before when she was with her mother in the garden? They probably made the link that anything that is linked to her lost memories might trigger her nausea.
Hmm, that makes sense.
That’s something interesting I found about this drama. It makes us think of what happened rather than showing us every details and ‘explain’ to us what happened.
When she’s having surgery…?
Now I watch it with subs.
I think the royal family including HA knows about the music because when the queen mother talked with JH, she said something like (I forget the exact sentence), ‘she (JS) keeps hallucinating that song’, and JH didn’t surprised or something like that. So I assumed they know about that piece.
It’s something you just know in drama… 😉
Writers almost completed script… that means more spoilers to us 😉
thanks for the recap! <3333
ah, the second thing that I do after woke up is reading ur recap Ms Koala. I dunno how to thank you!! but thank you! 😀
Thank you for the recap Ms. Koala. You’re really fast. Me too, seeing our OTP together makes me happy I can cry.
I am in love with the writer nim for how the stake is raised each episode. It is so gritty, mixing hard to watch reality and emotions. I am not one to cry watching dramas, but the scene with the Queen Mother and Jae Ha got my eyes moist.
Then you throw in a little lighter hearted moments to lower the tension a little to make it bearable, with cute little Jae Ha’s appearance and back story, and his conversation with Shi Kyung.
And Jae Shin’s struggle with her pride and her devastation at her disability is so well done. This show is not for the faint hearted and those who cannot take controversies. The two fronts of “war”, one at the Jaeju peace convention and the other at the WOC is so well developed. Bravo.
And how can I forget, thank you Miss Koala for such a fast recap and a playground for us to hang out.
“sex addict attending a celibacy retreat”. Pfffffftttttt.
You are awesome.
everytime jae ha looks back at the camera, an intangible sound escape from me, a normal way to describe it is a squeal or chuckle of exhileration, but then… my friends took photos and videos of my face, let say i had to bribe a lot of money not to let it loose on the internet
Dear Koala,
So so grateful for your insight! I typed this really quickly, just after reading your summary. Felt relieved that the daring brilliance of the script was appreciated. Like you said, nothing is easy. The dodge and forget approach preferred by a worried mother, the pity-me-cause-I-am-broken plea from the princess, and the fervent wishes to get lucky of the united team…No. None of it. Everything is set up so nicely. Cannot wait for the story to charge ahead.
Thanks Koala! This show is making me nervous with anticipation.
Thanks Koala 🙂
“It’s been so long since I’ve watched a K-drama with genuine stakes. Not just the OTP getting past whatever obstacles and getting together, or the leads conquering whatever their hang ups and bottle necks are in life, but real stakes where a solution isn’t just a matter of when. I have no clue how Jae Ha and Hang Ah are going to finally vanquish Bong Goo. Will he end up dead or in some maximum security prison? Who will be collateral damage in this fight to the end? If it was only as easy as sacrificing an annoying twat like Secretary Eun to appease Bong Goo’s vanity and call it a day.” – I am so with you on this. Those reasons above are why this drama is so freaking addicting & also the OTP. The stakes aren’t the typical your mom doesn’t like your girlfriend/ boyfriend so you need to break up but you don’t want to & in the end they end up together.
Knowing the writers writing style, I’m very scared about how the story will end. Will our cutie photootie Si Kyung have to make the ultimate sacrifice as collateral damage? As much as I don’t want him to die, I think that it would be more heartbreaking if either JH or HA died. The Lee’s have already lost a brother and sister in law, I hope that the writer doesn’t kill Jae Shin or our OTP.
Regarding the body count, “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”
No! Show, you can’t do this to me! If there’s a tragic death at the end, I won’t watch it! Up till now, I still can’t bear to watch the prosecutor’s death in City Hunter. Watched every part but that scene, and cos of that, will probably never watch CH again.
I so want to watch this drama again and again! Please, please Show!
thank you my dear…
Ms Koala,
you are simply the best! Love your recaps and love the commentary and afterthoughts even more.
Thanks for the recap Ms Koala.. Hehehe.. It has really made up my day 😉 I’m anticipating for tonight episode… Will just sit there early a few hours before the show start… I love the backyard romantic camping made by JH ;p heheheh… Will ask my boyfriend to sent up a tent for me too ;p HAHAHAHA.. Anyway, King 2 Hearts writer did a great work.. When you watch this drama from the beginning.. You will see how each episode develop every characters even the supporting character.. The WOC events and the love between the King & the Queen really made the story line more interesting in comparison to other drama.. I have been loving K-Drama since I was in highschool.. This drama is definitely a turning point to make K-Drama evolve into a more complex storyline and character..
Still showing my 100000% support to The King 2 Hearts ^^
Thank you Ms. K for another wonderful recap. Can’t live without ’em.
7 more episodes!
i’m happier to let Ha Ji Won’s cuteness go away in coming eps. She should be more confident, bold girl ..
….tnx for the recap Ms. Koala….i’m just think how it gonna be end and i hate thinking that their would be someone to die..no…no..no..!enough when hyung die….exciting
thank you so much Ms. Koala… i almost skip watching BG killing Tara.. it freaks me out really… the tension really is increasing.. and really love AhHa couple on action together..
Wow!!! What a relief that we have the spoiler engagement pictures and videos for next week or else my heart will go gaga(crazy) waiting for next week to come. This is romcom kdrama right?! And we already lost a beloved character which is JK I hope no one has to die just that villain to be captured. I love our OTP so much even if i know they are getting engage I’m still freaking out on tomorrows episode I think they were fighting on the preview I do hope they will win! Fighting! I cried a river watching the scene of the queen mother and JH! I love it… I like the development between JS and SK I do hope that they will get a royal wedding and babies too like JH and HA will have must have (out OTP will make beautiful strong and smart babies). I love the camping scene so much that I kept on replaying it again and again and again… Thank you Ms. K!
That’s the thing, this is not a typical rom com. So we really don’t know how things can turn out. But really hope that no one dies (except for BG of course!). The fact that jae ha keeps saying that he’ll love hang ah till he dies & vice versa is all swoon worthy. I just hope it’s not meant to be ominous.
Don’t feel too bad for Tara. I’m sure Jaeha has researched her background and suspected she was the one who carried out Operation-kill-king-and-queen. Can’t imagine Bong-goo getting his hands dirty skulking around to set up the vacation house to be a death trap. Maybe I’m sick but I got goosebumps when Jae-ha did that. Such awesomeness! Sort of reminds me of that scene in Legend where young Damdeok, played by a young Yoo Seung Ho, in such a calm, innocent manner confronted his evil aunt about the plot to kill his dad and presented her with the head of the physician who administered the poison (“You want to see him? That’s going to be a bit hard….” *presents severed head*). SOL, she killed herself.
okay, maybe she’s not the assassin lady in ep 7… but still a slick move on Jae-ha’s part.
I’m soooo glad to see a drama where the characters TAKE ACTION instead of always reacting to outside forces, or for a drama to have real stakes! Way to go, Show!! It would be redundant for me to say how much I love our OTP. (group squee, anyone???) Initially I thought WTH when I read it LSG & HJW were the leads, but now….I can’t imagine any other pair who would nail the emotional, political, and family beats so perfectly.
Pure drama-heaven! 😀
Jae shin, not his type. Pffffffft
I see everyone talking about Tara…she was there for the money and awesome life…enjoyed to the end.
Lesson to us all; don’t insult man with magic powers…you see he can make you disappear. 8)
agree!!!!!
I am all for characters that aren´t black and white, but our supposed “hero” sacrifices an innocent woman to teach the villain a lesson and I, as a viewer am supposed to squee over our couple holding hands and smiling at each other moments after she died??
I´ve thought the show lacked heart for a while now, but this is honestly the worst!
And don´t get me started on people on the show labeling a disabled and traumatized woman “weak” for suffering and not being like she was before! It´s like telling her to “deal with it”! Ugh.
I honestly feel sick now..
While I don’t applaud what JH did to Tara, she’s no ‘innocent’ woman. She sleeps with a man she despises simply because he’s rich. Furthermore, it’s not like she’s not aware of BG’s evil plots. She knew that Bon Bon kidnapped JS – BG and Bon Bon were talking about it while Bon Bon was curling her hair! Yet she did nothing! She didn’t try to talk him out of it. Even if that was impossible, she could have walked out on the relationship or even alert the authorities. It’s one thing to sleep with a man for mercenary reasons, but when that man is a murderer, and you still continue in the relationship, then u are an accessory to that murder. She knew that he was going to murder JK. She was in the room when BG was wondering which method to use to get rid of JK.
For all you know, JH may have found this out while talking to her at the bar. She could have mentioned that her boyfriend killed someone.
agree… she’s a gold digging wh*re…
I defined her as innocent because she had absolutely no part in the murder plot that is the reason for Jae Has wish for revenge. She didn´t kill anyone nor did she personally harm anyone if I remember correctly. So she´s clearly an innocent casualty in that matter.
I may not agree with the choices she made for her personal life and she may even not have been a good person, but that the show expects me to not care about the supposed hero willingly risking her death or to even find her deserving it because of her loose morals is sick. Sleeping with someone because he is rich may not seem right for most people (me included btw) but it doesn´t make it alright for her to be killed.
I feared I´d read a comment like the one from “Bali Dancer” below and that was honestly one of the reasons the scene made me feel so sick. Because obviously a gold-digger deserves death, right? Everything to justify the oh-so-dreamy-hero…
Bali Dancer
“agree… she’s a gold digging wh*re…”
Adding a * in the word whore does not make that comment any less repulsive or offensive. This comment is the exact reason why the fact that Jae Ha used Tara like he did made me so uncomfortable. He probably thought the same thing. “Tara is a gold digging whore so who cares if she is killed because of my actions.” F-ed up.
I kinda agree with you. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about Tara. We should just admit it that we don’t value her life and feel bad about ourselves (or not, whatever) instead of justifying it and acting like Tara deserved to be a pawn in Jae Ha’s revenge scheme just because she was greedy and slept with Bong Goo for his money. Jae Ha could have chosen to target the toupe guy who takes care of Bong Goo’s dirty work or better yet the lady assassin who actually killed his brother or one of the men that was with the lady assassin, but he didn’t. He went after the gold digger? Jae Ha knows who Bong Goo is sleeping with and where to find her, but he can’t pin down Bong Goo’s henchmen? I think Hang Ah or Jae Kang would be disappointed that Jae Ha had such a callous disregard for Tara’s life because the two of them have a moral grounding that Jae Kang lacks.
That being said, if Jae Ha is going to be characterized this way he better lay the gauntlet down when it comes to Secretary Eun. If he just rolls over on Secretary Eun’s betrayal, revealing the Jae Kang’s location and the subsequent lies he told, then I am going to scream bloody murder! If Jae Ha’s gonna be ruthless, then he better actually be ruthless and kill somebody whose life and death actually matters to us, the audience, and to the other people in the story, instead of punking out and killing some random chick, not even tertiary character, just to piss off his enemy…rant over. Sorry had to get it out.
I can understand that Jae Shin is traumatized, but I would think it would be more from not having her memory and knowing that she must know something about her brother’s assassination as opposed to her being disabled. Why is she ashamed to show herself to the press? I generally hate how disabled people are characterized the few times they’ve showed up in kdramas. I too want to tell her suck it up already and get a freaking elevator installed in that ridiculously opulent palace and then you can get wherever you want to go just fine. I would treat her just like Hang Ah did when she told her to get over the fact that she poops and then gave her a bath. Disability isn’t the end of life and you can mourn the loss of your ability, walking, without the pity party for one or being a complete terror to everyone around you. For someone with so much pride, she must realize how she’s acting only makes people pity her. I want the badass Jae Shin back, now!
*a moral grounding that Jae Ha lack’s*
It’s killing me not to read everyone’s ideas, but I am still trying to stay spoiler free.
Thanks for the recap. You filled in some gaps in understanding for some motivations.
Crazy Man is definitely going after KA now that his girlfriend is swiss cheese toast, poor thing!
I made my very first header for AKP! Is it the right size?
I have no skills, but the subject matter has what it takes, and then some.
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z392/Jomo143/AKP/akpfg.png
If this worked, I have a tonne of M2F screen caps to play with, too. Half naked ones.
Read you later!
Oooo cuteeee…keep up 😉
OMG beyond HAWWTT!!!!
Thanks, guys!
Here is another, but photobucket isn’t saving everything I do…which is a little frustrating!
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z392/Jomo143/AKP/AKP23-1.jpg
Here they are right-sized
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z392/Jomo143/AKP/akpfg-1.jpg
and
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z392/Jomo143/AKP/AKP23-1.jpg
Thanks for posting either.
Thanks, sweetie!
Unfortunately you’re going to have to shrink it to 940 × 198 pixels, otherwise wuri Seung Gi baby will be cut off here or there. I’ll put it up shortly when its right-sized.
Will do.
I hope the ending will be spectacular and won’t disappoint us. No death on either major characters pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. I don’t want to feel the same old feeling after I watched Memories of Bali. I will really cry to death if that happens. 🙁
Dear Elena: I broke my heart watching WHIB…
I didn’t know man can cry like that…
When HJW said: I love you…That was my end.
True! It was so sad. I wanted them to end up together but they had to die in the end. I just hope that doesn’t happen in TK2H cause I will literally roll over and cry. Hahaha.
To be honest I don’t get this whole ‘WOC’ thing anyway. I mean, did I miss something? How is doing mock wars supposed to unite people?? South and North Korea joining forces is a nice theory, but this WOC thing I feel is a bit farfetched. Another thing that was hilarious was when they were entering the campus for the WOC participants. The U.S uniforms where so faded and looked like crap. I laughed my butt off. Only in Drama world. 😉
Thanks for the recap!
I don’t totally get the WOC thing either. I get the idea that it’s really important to our characters, but why when in and of itself it doesn’t make sense. Mock competition wars between all the nations of world? Might as well spell out d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r. We can barely get through the Olympics without political controversy with people boycotting or worse the Munich Massacre at the 1972 games. And the Olympics are all about goodwill as opposed to touting your military prowess like the WOC is. I just don’t buy that any other country would care that much if the united Korea won, none-the-less passed the first round or how any other country placed. Some more back story of the importance of the WOC in this alternate world would help it make more sense as to why the WOC matters in the first place.
Also I understand how tying our couple’s fate to how they perform at the WOC makes the WOC matter more, but it also doesn’t make sense. If my future husband told me he bet our future together on a freaking competition I would kick his butt! Especially after risking war between the North and South to get Hang Ah back now it’s a competition…